Warne catching up to the 100 club

Page Tools

Shane Warne will not be censured for some forthright criticism
directed at umpire Aleem Dar during an unusual spell as he strained
to snuff out New Zealand's tailend yesterday.

But the champion leg spinner is on the verge of attracting
plaudits for an aspect of his game beyond his bowling - his almost
flawless catching in the slips.

Warne took his 99th catch along with four wickets at the Gabba
yesterday and is poised during this first Test to join the elite
group of Australians - among them the famously safe specialists
Mark Waugh, Mark Taylor and Greg Chappell - who have taken 100
catches in Tests.

It was, however, one of the brighter spots in an otherwise
troubled day for the world record-holder, whose apparent
questioning of Dar's knowledge of the leg-before-wicket rule was
picked up by on-field effects microphones and was audible during
ABC Radio's broadcast around the country.

Warne was bowling at the NZ tailenders, who lifted the score
from 7-250 overnight to 353, when Dar ruled that two of his
deliveries were wides. After Dar provided clarification of the
leg-side wide regulations, having penalised him for bowling
negative lines, Warne turned to the Pakistani umpire and said:
"Have a look at the lbw rule, too, as well, OK?"

"I said, 'No problem.' I was a little bit disappointed about the
wides but that's his call if he thought it was negative bowling. I
also asked him if he was going to have a look at the laws, maybe he
should just have another look at the leg-before rule."

Warne's suggestion was based on decisions made in previous
matches, and match referee Mike Procter later said no action would
be taken.

Warne often says he prides himself on all facets of his game,
not only the bowling that has earned him 545 Test wickets. The sure
hands with which he snaffled an edge from Daniel Vettori's bat,
just before his exchange with Dar, continue a long tradition of
slick fieldsmen to have graced the Australian slips over the
decades.

Former Australian captain Mark Taylor, who has taken more
catches in the field than any Australian other than Mark Waugh,
ironically believes Australia's overall catching standards have
slipped, but said expertise in the slips had given Australia a real
edge over opposition teams in the past.

"It can change a game and that's something Mark Waugh did very
well, by hanging on to a half-chance that 19 times out of 20 goes
through," Taylor said.

"It makes the world of difference."

The Australian tradition stretches back to Bob Simpson, while
Ian Botham and the great West Indian fielders of the '80s and early
'90s later showed the way.

More recently, India's Rahul Dravid has grabbed most chances to
come his way at first slip, while Warne's 35-year-old reflexes
plainly have not waned.

"Warney is a good slipper - a very safe, sound slipper," Taylor
said.

". . . It won't be long before he gets the hundred up and you've
got to remember he's got 99 catches in Tests without fielding at
slip off his own bowling. If he'd fielded at slip off his own
bowling, he'd probably have 130 by now."